"If the Junzhu has come to mock me, there is no need." Governor Yu's expression turned even more unpleasant.
Shen Xihe lowered her head to adjust her pibo and sleeves, ensuring every detail was impeccable before looking up. "I have come to seek answers from Governor Yu."
Governor Yu stared coldly at Shen Xihe without uttering a word.
Shen Xihe maintained a calm expression. "The individuals involved in the tomb robbery case are escaped convicts who were conscripted for hard labor in the mines. I do not mean to underestimate Prince Zhao, but he has no military influence behind him. If he could quietly release so many escaped convicts, he would not need to bide his time and conceal his abilities until now.
Based on this reasoning, Prince Zhao is not the mastermind behind the tomb robbery case. I wish to know who forced Governor Yu to wade into these troubled waters?"
Governor Yu was taken aback, and his gaze toward Shen Xihe shifted.
Earlier, he had been furious and resentful, but not because he lacked magnanimity or could not tolerate being outmaneuvered, as Shen Xihe had assumed. Rather, he had inwardly looked down on Shen Xihe and was angered that he had been so easily trapped by a mere young girl like her.
However, Shen Xihe's words now left him astonished. How could she unravel the intricacies of the situation with just a few sentences?
"Junzhu, please leave." Governor Yu spat out the four words stiffly.
As expected, he remained uncooperative. Shen Xihe continued, "Governor Yu, do you know how the other party plans to bring this case to a swift conclusion after failing to frame Worldly Son Bu?"
Naturally, by producing another scapegoat. And as for who that scapegoat would be—was it even necessary to ask?
If Bu Shulin was proven to have been maliciously framed, then the one who framed her would naturally be implicated.
Governor Yu closed his eyes. "Junzhu, please leave."
"As a governor, you should be even more aware than I of how uncontrollable the tomb robbery case has become," Shen Xihe pressed on. "His Majesty now only seeks a swift resolution. He will not delay for your sake alone. Once the crime of tomb robbery is finalized, it will not be something you alone can bear."
The Emperor had been forced to issue an Edict of Self-reproach, and public outrage had grown so intense that sentencing your entire clan to execution would not be excessive.
This time, the common people were the true victims. They would only see the extermination of your nine clans as a cause for celebration.
Governor Yu clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and said with extreme restraint, "Junzhu, please leave!"
Shen Xihe had not expected that even the threat of exterminating his nine clans would not compel him to reveal the mastermind. What kind of benefits had the person behind this offered him? To make him shoulder the blame alone, even at the cost of implicating Prince Zhao.
"Junzhu, why is Governor Yu so tight-lipped?" Zhenzhu asked, equally perplexed, after they left the prison cell.
"There is only one possibility," Shen Xihe said calmly. "He is truly a participant and holds an extremely critical role in the tomb robbery case. If the investigation continues, he cannot extricate himself, and the extermination of his nine clans is unavoidable."
"Even so, he should not let his accomplice go free," Zhenzhu argued, believing that human nature would not allow Governor Yu to watch his entire clan be executed while another person evaded punishment.
"The extermination of his nine clans is inevitable," Shen Xihe murmured faintly. "What if he has an illegitimate child outside, a last thread of his bloodline, and the continuation of that bloodline happens to be in the hands of his accomplice?"
Zhenzhu had not considered such a possibility, but upon reflection, it made sense.
The continuation of one's bloodline is a matter of utmost importance. Since the extermination of his nine clans was unavoidable no matter what, he could only choose to protect whoever could be saved."Princess Consort Zhao has passed away. When Prince Zhao remarries in the future, he naturally won't remain close to the Yu family." Shen Xihe had completely discerned Governor Yu's intentions. "Governor Yu is merely the deceased princess consort's uncle—that creates even more distance between them."
"So Governor Yu had long abandoned Prince Zhao to seek another patron." Zhenzhu understood, then asked, "If that's the case, wouldn't His Highness Prince Zhao be suffering unjustly in this incident..."
Merely executing a governor for such a major affair might not convince the public. Even if Prince Zhao were cleared of suspicion, some would surely try to implicate him. His Majesty might not refrain from severe punishment—perhaps even decreeing execution...
"Whether it comes to execution depends entirely on the Crown Prince's inclination." Shen Xihe smiled faintly at Zhenzhu.
In the capital, before Tang Juan's eight-hundred-li urgent memorial could arrive, Xiao Huayong had already learned of the events transpiring there.
"Second Brother is truly pitiful. He doesn't even know the Yu family has betrayed him." Xiao Huayong sighed with pity.
"Your Highness, the Junzhu remains in Henan Prefecture awaiting His Majesty's dispatch of investigators." Tianyuan reported.
"Send someone competent and decisive. I miss Youyou." Xiao Huayong handed the letter to Tianyuan, pondered momentarily, then revealed a somewhat mischievous smile. "I find Second Brother most suitable for this task."
Tianyuan's hand trembled.
This... this was too malicious.
Having Prince Zhao personally handle the case would place him in an impossible position: if he failed to uphold justice against his own kin, Governor Yu couldn't be cleared; if he did sacrifice his relative, the officials would view it as abandoning a pawn to save the king. Moreover, who would dare marry their daughters to a prince who could treat his former wife's clan so ruthlessly?
"His Majesty might not permit Second Highness to go." Tianyuan murmured quietly.
"If I want him to go, His Majesty will have to send him." Xiao Huayong lowered his head and picked up a carving knife to sculpt a sandalwood hairpin. The hollowed pin concealed a short sword—a gift for Shen Xihe's self-defense.
What was so remarkable about Shen Yunan's gift of a mechanism-equipped bracelet?
He could give gifts too, and his would be hand-carved!
"Summon Little Twelve. I'd rather not let Second Brother realize he's dealing with someone he can't afford to cross. Let Little Twelve have a word with him." Xiao Huayong instructed while meticulously carving eucommia leaves on the hairpin's end.
The twelfth prince, Xiao Changgeng, had moved out of the Eastern Palace some days prior. Xiao Huayong hadn't obstructed this, treating it as reward for Xiao Changgeng's satisfactory performance at the hunting grounds. Though the prince had relocated, His Majesty hadn't yet granted him a title.
Xiao Changgeng genuinely wished the Crown Prince would forget about him—ideally, forget his existence entirely.
He prided himself on intelligence, believing that with His Majesty in his prime, he might develop substantial influence over the next decade and potentially contend for the throne. But since encountering the Crown Prince, his ambitions had been extinguished just like his sixth brother's. Now he only wanted to diligently perform his duties and accumulate merits to earn a princely title through his own efforts.
Yet the Crown Prince had no intention of letting him go. The Crown Prince used him as a mask—his imperial prince status made him the perfect proxy for matters the Crown Prince couldn't personally handle.
Such as the current task: personally persuading Prince Zhao to request permission to go to Henan Province and sacrifice his own relative for justice.
"Second Brother, these are the Yu family's incriminating evidence—each count clear and documented. Present them to His Majesty, and he'll see you weren't the mastermind. His Majesty will permit you to go to Henan Prefecture." Xiao Changgeng handed the evidence collected by Xiao Huayong to Prince Zhao, Xiao Changmin.Xiao Changmin looked at Xiao Changgeng with a faint, ambiguous smile. "Twelfth Brother, you truly are a dark horse."
Xiao Changgeng maintained a polite and appropriate smile on his face, but inwardly, his heart was filled with bitterness.
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